What is a conference? The conference is a banquet after the meeting!

This is the case in ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, and the Pingxi Palace, which is full of Han annihilation, anti-thieves, traitors and anti-bones, is naturally even more so. Following this precedent, after the end of the Yuezhou Conference of the Wu Army, which decided to raise the banner of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, Wu Lao Han naturally had to order a large banquet to entertain the civil and military generals. So, soon, countless torches were quickly lit in the venue downstairs in Yueyang, dozens of square tables were set up, and the well-prepared guards of the Pingxi Royal Mansion were also quickly filled with countless drinks and dishes, and the banquet began.

As in history, after Wu Laohan announced a rebellion against the Qing Dynasty and Fuming, Wu Laohan's gang of jackals, tigers and leopards who were afraid that the world would not be chaotic were the vast majority of them supported and supported from the bottom of their hearts, and a few generals, such as Lu Fatzi's father-in-law Wu Guogui and others, did not want to take the risk of rebellion, but only verbally expressed a certain degree of weak opposition, and then did not hesitate to devote themselves to the great cause of anti-Qing Dynasty, until the sacrifice of their lives on the battlefield was still unswerving, only a very small number of lackeys timidly rebelled, and escaped from the anti-Qing team- And they're all innocuous kittens, puppies, and small characters.

It is precisely for this reason, and the current situation of the Wu army is far better than the situation in history when the army was raised - in history, it was really a desperate corner of the enemy country, but now the elite of the Qing army has been lost, and the Wu army has broken through the Yangtze River to seize the strategic initiative. So in general, the atmosphere of this banquet to celebrate the rebellion is still lively and harmonious, not only did no one stir up the scene, the slogans of attacking Yanjing City and capturing Kang Mazi alive came and went, but also every time they said it, it could arouse a round of applause, and won countless people to echo loudly, as if they didn't follow up with a few words to kill Kang Mazi's whole family, Kang Mazi's mother was not loyal enough to Wu Laohan.

Probably because of the warm atmosphere infection, maybe it is the spread of optimism, and it is more likely to be loyal and cute, in short, there are more than a dozen generals of the Wu army on the spot who can't wait to take the initiative in front of Wu Laohan and take the initiative to ask for help, and volunteer to lead the army to go out, take Henan, Anhui or go straight to the south of the Yangtze River in the north, and act as a vanguard for the Northern Expedition of the main force of the Wu army! It's a pity that Wu Laohan didn't even say a word about the Northern Expedition in addition to drinking wine and eating meat, and then he just smiled and didn't say anything about the scramble of the generals of the Wu army, and he never even said a word about when the Northern Expedition was.

It's really not that Wu Laohan annihilated a conservative strategy and rigid tactics, the key is that the Wu army is not Li Zicheng's army or Zhang Xianzhong's rogue army, fight there and count there, there is no territory and no rear supplies in the front, and the locusts cross the border to grab as much as they want, the Wu army is not only a tiger and wolf division with political ideas and political aspirations, but also its own territory and rear, especially when the Wu army has gradually begun to develop towards the goal of all-firearms arms, the dependence on rear supplies is increasing, Wu Laohan, who is old in military affairs, will not launch a gambling surname Northern Expedition in a desperate way.

"Old Taishan, the son-in-law is not talented." In order to reverse his bad impression in front of his father-in-law, Xia Guoxiang squeezed in front of Wu Laohan, and bowed again, desperately asking for war: "The little son-in-law is brave, I want to ask the old Taishan to allocate 30,000 troops to the little son-in-law, take the opportunity of the empty army of the Central Plains of the dog, take the Anhui Road or Henan Road to the north, for the old Taishan to smash the Yellow Dragon, and capture the Emperor of the dog alive and dedicate it to the tent, and hope that the father-in-law will be gracious." ”

"The king is very pleased that the virtuous son-in-law can have such ambitions." Wu Lao Hanjian finally spoke, and said with a smile: "However, the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains is not a trivial matter, we have to discuss it slowly and consider it carefully." ”

"Father-in-law, don't miss the opportunity, you won't come again." Xia Guoxiang said anxiously: "Now the remnants of the elite main force of Mangou are either in the south of the Yangtze River, or in Shaanxi and Gansu, there are only a few places in the Central Plains where the green battalion is guarded, and there is no city or place that can block the iron hooves of our army, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our army to go on the Northern Expedition, if you don't seize this opportunity quickly, wait until Mangou relieves this breath and rearranges the heavy defense in the Central Plains, and then the difficulty of the Northern Expedition is not ordinarily high." ”

"There is some truth in the words of the virtuous son-in-law." Wu Laohan smiled, shook his head and said: "But the time is not yet ripe, the matter of the Northern Expedition has to be carefully discussed by King Ben and Mr. Xianyan and Mr. Mao Yao." ”

Xia Guoxiang was also anxious to make meritorious service to atone for his crimes, and asked: "Old Taishan, why is the time not ripe now?" It's not ripe there? The son-in-law doesn't understand, what else does the Mangou have to stop our army in the Central Plains? ”

Wu Lao Hanjian stretched his face, his face gradually showed anger, and the fat man next to him saw that the situation was not good, so he hurriedly stepped forward to grab Xia Guoxiang, and said with a smile: "Second uncle, you want to make meritorious contributions to your grandfather, which is a good thing, but you also have to think about your grandfather, and your grandfather is also worried about you, so he is not in a hurry to agree to your request." ”

"What is that for?" Xia Guoxiang turned to Lu Fatzi and asked.

"There are many reasons, but the first key is that the nail in Jingzhou has not been pulled out!" Lu Fatzi replied: "Jingzhou is located in the upper reaches of Jiangyue, located in the water and land throat of Huguang and Sichuan, if this nail is not removed, our Huguang army will not only be unable to get through the contact with General Wang Pingfan of Sichuan, but also face the danger of Jingzhou Mangou going down the river to re-blockade the Yangtze River at any time, and the north of Jingzhou is connected to Shaanxi and Gansu, and the elite main force deployed in Shaanxi and Gansu can take the land route south at any time to reinforce Jingzhou, and then threaten our rear hinterland and the Northern Expedition grain route, so Jingzhou This nail will not be pulled out, Grandfather, he really couldn't feel at ease on the Northern Expedition. ”

"Just those defeated generals in Jingzhou? Even Tan Hong and Wu Zhimao can't beat Rabu, is worthy of being called a nail? Xia Guoxiang and many generals of the Wu army laughed, and they despised the Qing Labu Division, which had never dared to confront the main force of the Wu army for several years. Xia Guoxiang turned to Wu Lao Hanjian and asked: "Old Taishan, is it really like what Yifeng Xian's nephew said, you are worried about the gang of dogs in Jingzhou, so you can't make up your mind to go on the Northern Expedition for the time being?" ”

"When did Yifeng have only such a reason?" Wu Laohan scolded his son-in-law angrily, nodded and said: "But Yifeng's words are also very reasonable, if you don't pull out Jingzhou, the nail in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, it will be difficult for this king to implement the Northern Expedition with confidence." ”

After that, Wu Lao Hanjian glanced at Lu Fatzi again and asked, "Yifeng, since you have seen the important surname of Jingzhou, are you interested in going to Jingzhou and joining forces with your father-in-law Wu Guogui to pull out this nail for the old man?" ”

"old man, think of me again at this time?" Lu Fatzi, who had already made up his mind not to go to Jingzhou, muttered in his heart, and said with a smile on his face: "Grandfather sent it, and my grandson-in-law dared not obey, but it was just ......." ”

"Old Taishan, let me go." Xia Guoxiang couldn't wait to say: "Yifeng has received too many envoys during this time, and it is time to rest, and there is the matter of the old general, which is inseparable from Yifeng Zhang Luo, so let the son-in-law do it, and ask the father-in-law to give the son-in-law 20,000 troops to go against the current and capture Jingzhou for the old Taishan!" ”

"This ......." Wu Lao Han Zhan was a little hesitant, it was not that Wu Lao Han Zhan could not trust his second son-in-law who was experienced on the battlefield, but that Wu Lao Han Zhan wanted Lu Fatzi to have other purposes after commanding the Jingzhou Campaign, so he named Lu Fatzi's name.

"Lord Wang, the students think that the capture of Jingzhou must be a peak." Fang Guangchen, who has always opposed Wu Laohan's annihilation and reuse of Wu Yingqi and Xia Guoxiang's two straw bales, saw that the situation was not good, and quickly stood up and said: "Lord, in the entire Huguang battlefield, Mangou is only left with Jingzhou, in order to contain our army and prevent our army from joining forces in Sichuan and Lake, Emperor Mangou will inevitably order Labu and Tuhai to defend Jingzhou, and the two thieves of Tuhai and Labu have no way to retreat, and they will definitely do their best to defend this city and wait for reinforcements to rescue." ”

"In this way, the battle of Jingzhou must be a bloody and hard battle, originally General Xia fought bravely, took the lead in every battle, and was indeed an ideal candidate to capture Jingzhou, but if the enemy fought to the death, even if our army wins, it is bound to suffer heavy casualties and take a long time, and Yifeng can not only fight a tough battle, but also has a flexible combat style, and is good at adapting measures to local conditions to develop strengths and avoid weaknesses, he went to capture Jingzhou, not only to grasp greater, but also to minimize the losses of our army."

"Mr. Xianyan is reasonable, and the son-in-law also thinks that this battle must be a peak." Hu Guozhu considered from the perspective of Wu Jun's interests, and also agreed: "Yifeng has fought with Tuhai many times, and he is familiar with Tuhai's troop style and combat habits. ”

"The old man also thinks that Yifeng should be sent to this battle." Wu Lao Han nodded, then turned to Lu Fatzi and said, "Yifeng, what do you think?" Would you like to go? ”

"Grandfather, uncle, and Mr. Xianyan praise him so much, and his grandson-in-law can't say it, it's hypocrisy." Lu Fatzi smiled bitterly in his heart and replied, "Of course my son-in-law is willing to go to ......." ”

"Yifeng, you wait." Xia Guoxiang grabbed Lu Fatzi, knelt down on Wu Laohan's knees, clenched his fists, and said loudly: "Father-in-law, since the beginning of our army, the son-in-law has not made a big contribution so far, and I am deeply ashamed, I just ask my father-in-law to give my son-in-law another chance, so that the son-in-law can capture Jingzhou for his father-in-law and show filial piety." If the siege is unfavorable, the son-in-law is willing to be dealt with by military law! ”

After that, Xia Guolian kowtowed repeatedly, and his attitude was very resolute, but Wu Lao Hanjian was quite hesitant, and said in his heart, what credit are you in a hurry to grab? Lao Tzu asked Yifeng to fight Jingzhou, he planned to wait for Jingzhou to be defeated, and let him go to Sichuan with the old man to command the Shaanxi-Gansu War, so that you could lead the Eastern Route Army to fight Jiangxi, you are now rushing to the Western Front, and in the future, the old man will transfer Yifeng from the Eastern Front to the Western Front, which will not only take a lot of effort, but also make Yifeng muttered that the old man favored his son-in-law. After hesitating for a moment, Wu Lao Hanjian looked at Xia Guoxiang with a determined face, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, the old man will give you another chance to attack Jingzhou." ”

"Thank you, father-in-law, my son-in-law will definitely not disappoint my father-in-law." Xia Guoxiang was overjoyed and hurriedly kowtowed to thank him.

"Lord Wang......." Fang Guangchen was a little anxious, but Wu Lao Hanjian waved his hand to stop it, but said to Xia Guoxiang: "The old man will give you 20,000 elite soldiers, and then give you 800 new muskets, and the Yuezhou Navy Division will give you half of the command, and the 20,000 troops of Songzi Wu Guogui are also under your command, but the old man wants you to take Jingzhou within a month and open up the contact between my Huguang army and Sichuan!" ”

"Please rest assured father-in-law, the son-in-law will not let you down." Xia Guoxiang confidently agreed, and said quite arrogantly: "And the son-in-law will not take a month, twenty days, and twenty days if he does not take Jingzhou City, and the son-in-law is willing to lead the army." ”

"There is no joke in the army, you better say less to Lao Tzu." Wu Laohan snorted coldly, "Within a month, you won't be able to take Jingzhou, and you won't have any chance to be on your own in the future!" ”

Xia Guoxiang agreed loudly, saluted and thanked him with joy, and Wu Lao Hanjian turned to Lu Fatzi and said: "Yifeng, don't be in a hurry to go back to Wuchang, when the funeral of the old general is finished, you will marry the old man and Xiao Su, Xiao Su is not small, and the old man is still waiting to hold his grandson." Fat Lu, who finally didn't have to go to Jingzhou, was overjoyed, and hurriedly saluted to thank him.

………………

On the third day, Xia Guoxiang really led an army of 20,000 to set off, from the north bank of the Yangtze River directly west into Jingzhou to pull out the nail, Lu Fatzi's father-in-law Wu Guogui also hurriedly returned to Songzi, commanded the 20,000 Wu troops there to cross the river, and assisted Xia Guoxiang to capture Jingzhou, Wu Yingqi also returned to Wuchang Station, to command the Wu army there to prepare for the army, Lu Fatzi stayed in Yuezhou at the request of Wu Lao Han Jian, while continuing to hang filial piety for the national security, while helping Wu Lao Han to deal with the internal problems after playing the banner of anti-Qing and Ming restoration.

Although it was at the last moment that he gave up the idea of immediately becoming the emperor and decided to play the banner of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, what made Lu Fatzi secretly admired was that Wu Lao Han Jian, who was born anti-bone boy, was obviously secretly prepared with both hands, because on the second day after the end of the Yuezhou Conference, Wu Lao Han Zhan decided to change his name to the self-proclaimed king of Zhou, and decided to change the thirteenth year of Kang Mazi to the first year of the Great Zhou Dynasty. In addition, it was also ordered to stop using the Kangxi Tongbao of the mite Qing coin, and instead use the Great Zhou to use the Tongbao, and on the spot to show the mother coin sample of the 'use of Tongbao', and send it to the state capitals in the southwest to mint in the same way. As for the military flags, uniforms and generals' helmets, Wu Lao Hanjian was extremely well prepared in secret, and the entire army in Yuezhou was replaced in less than a day, and even Xia Guoxiang's Western Expeditionary Army replaced the military flag and military hat before setting out.

The army is the lifeblood of Wu Lao Han's most tightly controlled, and it is naturally easy to cut the braid and change the crown, but after it reaches the people, it has encountered some troubles more or less, and a very small number of people and some Manchurian people are afraid of the cruel laws and regulations of mites to keep their hair and not keep their heads, and they refuse to cut off the tail of the rat on their heads. However, Wu Yingjing, the nephew of Wu Lao Han Annihilation, is not a vegetarian, after cutting off the heads of thirty or forty people who refused to cut their braids in one go, the people of Yuezhou also obediently cut off the tail of the rat and changed to wear a Han scarf, and the situation in other places is mostly the same, in front of the butcher knife of the Wu army, which is not inferior to the mite Qing army, the people of the five southwest provinces all obediently cut off the tail of the rat and regained the Han family costume.

Another advantage of cutting braids and changing crowns is that the work of distinguishing between friend and foe of the Wu army is much easier, and it is also much easier to recruit the backbone Han people who are unwilling to submit to the tyrannical rule of the mite Qing, not to mention far away, at least after Wu Lao Han's braided Yi Guan's text was transmitted to Huangzhou, He Shirong and the Golden Dragon Rebel Army, who were dealing with the mite Qing army in the Dongshan area of Macheng, immediately cut off the rat's tail on their heads and announced their acceptance of Wu Laohan's annihilation.

The news was transmitted back to Yuezhou, and the Wu army finally did not disappoint the Macheng rebels this time, Wu general Huang Naizhong was ordered to lead two thousand cavalry to the north to reinforce and help the rebels repel Yu Chengchan's suppressive army, and with the help of the rebels, they captured Macheng County, cut off the connection between Huangzhou and Henan, and forced Yu Chenglong to retreat to Huangzhou City to survive, and Wu Jun's blade approached Anhui and Henan, and the Central Plains was shaken.

On the ninth day of the first day of November, when the internal rectification of the Wu army after the change of banner came to an end, the strategic adjustment of the Qing court also came one after another, and the results were not much different from what the Wu army's decision-makers expected - Kang Mazi really ordered the 60,000 Qing army led by Jie Shu to stop going south to Fujian, and the troops were divided into two routes, all the way to Luzhou, Anhui Province for reinforcements, to prevent the Wu army from going north to Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong, all the way back to Anqing, consolidate Jiangxi's defense, and ensure the safety of Jiangnan's financial and tax areas.

The only thing that surprised Wu Laohanjian and others was that most of the 80,000 troops newly recruited by Kang Mazi in Henan, Zhili and Shanxi were invested in the battlefields of Nanyang, Xunyang, Guide and Anhui, but very few troops were invested in the hinterland of Henan to the north of Wuchang, and the Kaifeng and Luoyang areas with the largest population and the most developed economy in Henan were still very empty in defense, and there was still a huge loophole in the defense line of the Central Plains of Mites.

"What kind of fame is Kang Mazi doing?" After personally marking the deployment of the Qing army on the sand table of the national map, Wu Lao Hanjian frowned, and asked suspiciously: "Tell me, why did Emperor Mangou leave such a big space directly north of Hanyang in Wuchang?" Isn't he afraid that our army will directly attack the hinterland of Henan and directly threaten his direct subordinate Gyeonggi? ”

"The students think that the Emperor of the Full Dog should be an unchosen choice." Fang Guangchen replied respectfully: "Emperor Mangou not only wants to ensure the financial and tax areas of Liangjiang, but also prevent our army from capturing Jingzhou, Xiangyang and Xunyang, and open up the main force of Shaanxi and Gansu to communicate with Sichuan and encircle him left and right. ”

"Maybe the Mangou Emperor wants to use Henan to set a trap to lure our army north." Liu Xuanchu pointed out: "If the main force of our army penetrates deep into the hinterland of Henan, then the troops arranged by Kang Mazi on both flanks can be encircled on the left and right, and the Yangtze River will be blocked again with heavy troops, cutting off the connection between the main force of our army and the rear, so that the main force of our army will fall into the dilemma of having no food and no pay." ”

"There may be a bigger conspiracy." Wang Shirong interjected gloomily: "The most terrifying thing in the hinterland of Henan is not the army full of dogs, there is one thing that is even more terrifying, the prince won't guess it, right?" ”

"Mr. Liangchen doesn't mean the Yellow River, right?" Wu Lao Han laughed and said, "Emperor Mangou is not a madman, will he dig up the Yellow River and flood our army?" There are so many people in the hinterland of Henan that if the Yellow River bursts, millions of people will be left homeless. ”

"When you are cornered, no matter how crazy the dog emperor is, you can do it." Wang Shirong replied solemnly: "Please think about it, for the Mangou Emperor who has no surname, is the surname of one of his dogs important, or the surnames of millions of Han people?" ”

"Mr. Liangchen is reasonable, and this matter has to be guarded against." Fang Guangchen and Liu Xuanchu reminded with solemn faces.

Wu Laohan thought about it, smiled again, and said: "The old man's main force will not take this road to the Northern Expedition, and will only send a partial division to take the hinterland of Henan, to see if he Kang Mazi has the courage to go to this great disapproval for the sake of the old man's partial division." ”

"The prince is reasonable, sending a partial division to take Henan is indeed a clever strategy, which can not only disrupt the Central Plains defense line of Mangou, but also weaken Mangou's manpower and financial resources to ensure the safety of the main force." Liu Xuanchu first slapped a sycophant, and then reminded: "But the prince's next strategy should also be finalized, whether the main force of our army will take Shaanxi and Gansu first, or Jiangnan first, we have to ask the prince to make up his mind as soon as possible." Although our army is now gaining momentum, it is still far from being an opponent full of dogs in terms of manpower, material resources, and financial resources, and the longer it drags on, the more unfavorable it will be to our army. ”

"Of course this old man knows." Wu Laohan nodded, frowned again and said: "But the problem now is that if you don't pull out the nail of Jingzhou, the old man can't do his best, whether he takes Jiangnan first or Shaanxi and Gansu first-this Xia Guoxiang, he should have fought with Jingzhou Mangou at least four days ago, whether it is a victory or a defeat, why is there no news yet?" ”

"It should be soon." Liu Xuanchu comforted: "Please rest assured, General Xia has rich experience in the battlefield, and with the great help of General Wu Guogui, even if he can't take Jingzhou City urgently, he won't suffer too much loss on the battlefield." ”

Wu Lao Han Zhan nodded and agreed with Liu Xuanchu's statement, but at this moment, Hu Guozhu hurriedly entered Wu Lao Han Zhan's meeting hall with a stack of papers, and said loudly as soon as he entered the door: "Father-in-law, there is news from Jingzhou." ”

"How?" Wu Laohan couldn't wait to ask, "Good news or bad news?" ”

"There is good news and bad news, but I don't know which one my father-in-law wants to hear first." Hu Guozhu replied with a sad face.

"Let's start with the good news." Wu Laohan had a bad premonition in his heart.

"The good news is that Mr. Mao Yao's son, General Zhaoyong, has made meritorious service." Hu Guozhu replied: "Mangou Xunyang Admiral Tong Guoyao sent Xiangyang General Yang Laijia to reinforce Jingzhou, when the troops arrived at Jingmen, Xia Guoxiang asked General Liu Zhifu to lead the army to intercept, General Liu knew that Yang Laijia was Zheng Chenggong's old general, when Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expedition failed, Yang Laijia's lone army was surrounded and forced to surrender, General Liu sent an envoy to surrender, and Yang Laijia really raised troops to surrender, and took Jingmen City for us, temporarily cutting off the road for Mangou's other armies to reinforce Jingzhou. ”

"Mr. Maoyao, you really gave birth to a good son." Wu Laohan was overjoyed, and Liu Xuanchu was also full of joy, very happy that his only son was angry.

"There's bad news, father-in-law, don't be angry when you hear it." Hu Guozhu said helplessly: "Lian Lian he suffered defeat in Jingzhou, and three sieges in five days were repelled by Mangou, and more than 3,000 soldiers were lost. In addition, the army of our sailor Lin Xingzhu and the Guogui brothers' army crossing the river also suffered defeat on the Yangtze River, and Xu Zhidu, the commander-in-chief of the Yiling Naval Division, who was full of dogs, took advantage of the opportunity of our army's Wu Guogui division to cross the river, and suddenly launched a surprise attack, sinking nine of our warships, more than 20 troop carriers, and nearly 100 small boats, and the loss of our sergeants and soldiers also exceeded ...... Three thousand. ”

"Whoa!" Wu Laohan overturned the table and roared: "Xia Guoxiang, Wu Guogui and Lin Xingzhu grew up eating dry rice? Will you give a sneak attack to the full dog sailor when crossing the river? And so much loss? ”

"Back to my father-in-law, it's not that the son-in-law excuses his brother-in-law and the noble brothers, it's not that they are incompetent, it's that Xu Zhidu's dog is too cunning." Hu Guozhu replied tremblingly: "According to the report of the noble brothers, Xu Zhidu's dog Han Jian first pretended to be cowardly, deliberately withdrew from Yidu to Yiling, and lured our army's Songzi army to cross the river, and then took advantage of the opportunity of smooth wind and water at night to suddenly send troops, and arrived at Jingzhou Hudu in only one night, killing our army crossing the river by surprise. ”

"What's even more annoying is that Xu Zhidu even used his wife, he personally led the warship into our fleet, entangled with our sailors, and his wife Xu Bitch took the opportunity to attack our troop transport fleet, causing heavy damage to our army, if it weren't for the fact that our soldiers crossing the river all had life-saving gourds, the loss would have been even greater."

"Rubbish! It's all rubbish! "It was not easy to break through the Yangtze River, but in the case of a good situation, he suffered the first big defeat since the start of the army, or defeated in the hands of a woman, Wu Laohan's nose was almost crooked, and he yelled: "Immediately give Xia Guoxiang and Wu Guogui an order, give them ten days, and give the old man to get this field back!" Otherwise, military law is engaged! ”

(To be continued)